Intel has announced its latest SSD 335 solid-state drive, which is being pitched as a hard-drive replacement for laptops.

The 240GB drive will cost around £140. The SSD 335 will slot into 2.5-inch laptop bays.

The SSD drive is made using the company's latest 20-nanometre process. Typically newer SSDs made using new manufacturing processes draw less power and are faster. Intel's SSDs typically also offer more durability.

The SSD 335 has a sequential read speed of 500 megabytes-per-second and write speed of 450 megabytes per second. In blocks of 4KB of data, the SSD offers random read speed of up to 42,000 IOPS (Input/Output Operations per Second) and write speeds up to 52,000 IOPS.

The release of the new SSD comes a few days after Microsoft released Windows 8 for tablets and PCs. Intel last week released the new SSD Toolbox software that monitors and manages the performance and health of Intel SSDs. The download page lists the SSD Toolbox as being compatible with the latest version of Windows.

The Intel download page only lists the 240GB drive for the SSD 335 series. The company has not listed the SSD 335 with other storage capacity, so users may need to turn to SSD 330 drives with lower capacity.

Intel did not say whether SSD 335 will come in other capacities. The company offers solid-state drives for PCs and data centers ranging from 60GB to 800GB, and lower-capacity caching SSDs that help laptops boot quicker.

PLEASE NOTE: Your name is used only to let the recipient know who sent the story, and in case of transmission error. Both your name and the recipient's name and address will not be used for any other purpose.

Login

Not a member yet?

Register for a Computerworld UK Account and enjoy unlimited access to our extensive white paper library and exclusive Enterprise multi-user software trials. Account members can also comment on articles and access best practices guides.Register